DUDLEY, Mass.  – The Nichols College women's tennis team has been tabbed as the top squad in the 2012 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Preseason Poll, which was conducted among the league's head coaches.
 
Nichols, last season's regular season champion and CCC tournament finalist, finished with a 13-4 ledger overall and a spotless 8-0 conference record. Paced by the by two-time CCC Player of the Year junior Anna Dyakiv (Amsterdam, N.Y) and the reigning Rookie of the Year sophomore Lindsay Benoit (Holden, Mass.)  the Bison look to reach the NCAA tournament for the second time in three seasons. In addition to the duo of Dyakiv and Benoit, Nichols returns All-CCC honorees senior Jillian McQuiggan (Weymouth, Mass.), senior Alexandra Cifone (Bristol, Conn.), and sophomore Kelsey Peterson (Fairbanks, Alaska).
 
“Expectations are extremely high for this year's team as this is probably our deepest squad ever,” stated Head Women's Tennis Coach Paul Brower. “Having Anna and Lindsay at the top of our lineup is huge, but the strength of this team is depth. We have three outstanding seniors in Alexandra, Jillian, and Megan Woodruff (Morris, Conn.), who was 17-1 as a sophomore before studying abroad last season, will all make a tremendous impact on the way our season goes.“ 
 
“The addition of an outstanding freshman Michelle Keklik (Stratford, Conn.) and the development of some of our younger players should help us return to the conference final and hopefully the NCAA tournament,” added Brower.
 
The Bison picked up all but one first-place vote and collected 80 points as the 2011 tournament champion Endicott garnered 67 points for second place. Roger Williams was three points behind with 64 as Salve Regina checked in fourth (51) and claimed the only other first-place nod. Curry (49) was fifth followed by Western New England (39), Wentworth (23), Gordon (22) and Eastern Nazarene (10).
 
The women's tennis team kicks off Nichols' 2012-2013 athletic calendar with a 3:30 p.m. match at the Francis W. Robinson Courts versus Babson on Friday, August 31st.